Hotel guest complains to front desk employee that she wants to check in 11 hours early, the employee explained that’s not possible: ‘Girl, if you needed a room tonight then you should have booked tonight initially.’

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Aug 12, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Maybe book your room before you arrive at the destination.

We always talk about the entitlement that guests have and the attitude they present towards the front desk employees who are just doing their job. As if they didn't care about how they are perceived by the people working there. It's fine if you don't care about what people think about you, but that isn't an excuse to behave poorly and to justify your lack of manners. Sometimes, with these stories, like the one below, we concentrate too much on the entitlement. But there is something else that we can take away about situations like this one: the lack of thinking skills.

We usually think that the customer is demanding something outrageous or impossible because they believe they are entitled to an exception. And even though that may be the case, that isn't the only possibility. That customer could also not be thinking. That is why they are asking for the impossible: they think the impossible is actually possible. Let's take, as an example, this story. We have a woman demanding to check into a room before 3 pm. The front desk employee already explained that their policy says that check-ins are only available at 3, but the customer insists. We always assume they insist because they think they deserve the room anyway, and it may be true. But maybe she is demanding that room because her brain can't comprehend the fact that it is not possible.

The fact that customers aren't only entitled but also dumb would be a very rational explanation as to why employees keep getting involved in these kinds of situations. People don't think. They don't use their brains. That's why when they are denied what they want, they throw a temper tantrum. They think that is a way to solve their issue, when in reality, it is just making things worse over something that has no solution. So maybe we shouldn't be so hard on these types of customers. They may not be doing it on purpose. Maybe they just don't think. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Lady calls me at 11pm on Friday night just after I clock in for my audit shift and says, "What's the earliest time I can check in?" We are completely booked, so I tell her so and say that it would be 3pm, the standard time that is posted everywhere you can find our hotel information. She then says, "Well I have a reservation for Saturday but I really need to check in now." I tell her I'm fully booked AGAIN and say I wouldn't have a room for her tonight anyway. She says "But I have a room." I say
    via GalvanisticInhumans
  • 02
    A woman working at the hotel lobby front desk. Representation.
    via Vagaro

    A woman working at the hotel lobby front desk. 

    Representation.

  • 03
    my doorbell. I go let the person in and lo and behold it is the same lady. I know because she walks in, doesn't even wait until she's at the counter before she says, "What's the earliest I can check in?" Like my answer is going to be different than it was 5 hours ago. I say, "3pm." She says, "I can't wait til 3pm." I say, "I am fully booked and literally have no room at all." She asks if I know of any other hotels' availibilites around here. I say no. She says she can't believe this and leaves w
    via GalvanisticInhumans
  • 04
    initially. And even if you didn't know you would need a room a day early, on what planet would anybody let you check in 11 hours early. Insanity.
    via GalvanisticInhumans
  • 05
    A person working with a tablet at the front desk of a hotel lobby. Representation.
    via Proxyclick Visitor Management System

    A person working with a tablet at the front desk of a hotel lobby.

    Representation.

  • 06
    LCupidx Oh i got too many similar stories, they be the ones to say "I travel a lot and I have never heard about it" If you truly travel as much as you say you do, then you probably are either lying to never have heard of this before OR have stayed at the worst places. One night, I had this lady show up at 1:30 AM trying to check-in. She is not on my list of arrivals so I start to panic thinking maybe her reservation hadn't gone through (has rarely happened before). Have her pull out her confirma
    via LCupidx
  • 07
    arrival FOR THE NEXT DAY. I tell her: "Ma'am, this reservation is for tomorrow, check in begins at 4PM" You would have thought I told her to di or something by the look on her face. She is upset and wants to check in now, I tell her we do have rooms available but If I check her in now, it will result of an early arrival fee, which is the same as an extra night. She kept arguing with me how it was the next day already and I had to go over the very basics of how hotel's work. Anyways, she wasn't h
    via LCupidx
  • 08
    pestering me over the phone. First, called guest assistance asking to check in early. Ofc guest assistance calls us, I rely same information i told her in person to the agent. She proceeded to do the same thing 3 MORE TIMES. At this point I was tired of her, almost canceled her reservation. I told my manager when he arrived and he said if they called again he would cancel reservation and DNR fot harassment. Bless him. Unfortunately they didn't call, she managed to check in around noon but also m
    via LCupidx
  • 09
    Nocturnal Misanthrope So many people just don't know how to hotel. Some DO, and choose to be grifters anyway. I had a scammer b this week try to pull a 2-for-1 on us. I checked her in at 2AM on 8-4. She had made a reservation with our corporate reservation system like an hour previously for 2 nights, but it came in through our system as 1 night for 8-4. (4PM checkin) And they should know better than to do that, because it messes the reservation up and gives us an error on the reservation "This r
    via NocturnalMisanthrope
  • 10
    to stay for 2 nights, and I even made a comment about how "at least she wasn't one of those people who think that just because it's after midnight, the day is free". We even discussed how the amount I was authorizing on her credit card was double the price for 1 night. She checks out, and tries saying I told her it was OK to check in for her 8-4 reservation 14 hours early, and that she was only supposed to be charged for 1 night. Everyone at work knows (and maybe even people who read TFTFD a lot
    via NocturnalMisanthrope
  • 11
    So, when our GM let her know that it wasn't going to happen, she tried THREE TIMES to "go over our heads" to (redacted) customer help line to try and get about $200 refunded. And, of course, they just referred her to us, and we just kept closing the case saying, "She checked in at 2AM on 8-4 and stayed until checkout time 8-5. That's 2 days. No refund". And, since she absolutely knew she was going to get charged for 2 days and tried scamming us out of $200, she's now on the DNR list. I HOPE she
    via NocturnalMisanthrope
  • 12
    This_one_quiet They can be so Entitled that they seem to think that frown will turn the world upside down and all her wishes will come true, like a magic wand. Of course, then they will have to find something else to complain about...
    via This_one_quiet
  • 13
    ericzku It is exhausting dealing with those who can't comprehend the difference between calendar date and business date. They are two completely different things. I explain it like "4AM is a late arrival for Friday, not an early arrival for Saturday. Saturday arrivals begin at 3 in the afternoon. 'Early' would be 1 or 2PM." It occasionally gets through to them.
    via ericzku
  • 14
    Kevo_1227 With people like this I just do my best Mojo Jojo impression until they get it. "I have no unoccupied rooms. All of my rooms are occupied. Due to the fact that there are other people occupying all of my rooms I do not have any available for you to check in to. If there was an unoccupied room I would check you into it, but that is not the case. Each room in the building has another person inside it at this time." They usually hate this.
    via Kevo_1227
  • 15
    CustomerNo7623 does it bother anyone else that these people always inquire about other hotels in the area as if we would know what their availability is ? I find it beyond frustrating. Why would I know the availability and price of a hotel I do not work at ? And then when I say idk they want me to go online and check.
    via CustomerNo7623
  • 16
    dmada88 When I was in my 20s and broke I'd fly overnight US to Asia. There's nothing worse than that long long wait after an economy class 18 hour flight for a room- it took me exactly twice before I learned to book for the night before. Even though the extra money pained me.
    via dmada88
  • 17
    Gonpostlscott But of course it's your fault that she booked the room for the day after she arrives! C'mon! In actuality, I booked my room for today! I'm here today! Just because I arrive at 4am.... Of course that's on you to know my schedule!
    via Gonpostlscott

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

check in hotel guest tales from the front desk entitled people
Scroll Down For The Next Article